The 64th annual Primetime Emmy Awards did not pack a lot of surprises in terms of the winners,
give or take a Jon Cryer. So perhaps it was fitting that the night ended with
"Modern Family" winning its third straight Emmy for best comedy.

It was a good night to be a favorite at the Emmys: "Modern Family" once again swept the comedy supporting actor and actress awards, with
Eric Stonestreet and
Julie Bowen each picking up their second statues. Co-creator
Steven Levitan also won the comedy directing award.

"Homeland" dethroned four-time winner "Mad Men" as best drama series, a mild upset, but the Showtime series was almost universally lauded as the best newcomer of 2011-12. HBO's
"Game Change" won several movie/miniseries honors, and
"The Daily Show" and
"The Amazing Race" continued their long histories of Emmy success. "The Daily Show" has now won the Emmy for best comedy/variety series for an incredible 10 years in a row.

Aside from maybe "The Daily Show," though, "Modern Family's" best comedy win seemed as inevitable as any award handed out Sunday. The show is both a huge hit and (mostly) a critical darling, although some people have soured on it over the course of its three seasons. It's also a standard-bearer for broadcast television in a time when network programming is viewed as mostly inferior to cable (not without cause, in most cases), and that can't be discounted. Network TV is still the biggest game around, and the TV academy membership includes a whole lot of people who work in that world.

What did you think of "Modern Family's" three-peat, and of the Emmys in general this year?